Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

Perfect for a cold and/or rainy day! Or, if you're not feeling so great :) This recipe is easily adaptable. If you have peas... throw them in. Extra carrots? Toss them in too. Mine sometimes ends up with an entire bag of baby carrots.

Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup


Ingredients:

16 cups canned low-salt chicken broth

1 3 1/2-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced

2 celery stalks, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

8 ounces dried wide egg noodles

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:

Combine chicken broth and chicken in heavy large pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover partially and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Using tongs, transfer chicken to large bowl. Cool chicken and broth slightly. Discard skin and bones from chicken. Cut chicken meat into bite-size pieces and reserve. Spoon fat off top of chicken broth.

Return broth to simmer. Add onion, carrots and celery. Simmer until vegetables soften, about 8 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover chicken meat and broth separately and refrigerate. Bring broth to boil before continuing.)

Spray a heavy large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Add mushrooms to broth; stir in noodles, parsley and reserved chicken. Simmer until noodles are tender, about 5 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.